


Motherhood is a dish best served to go, because you've really no time to sit down (but they wouldn't have it any other way)

by Des98



Series: What if? [2]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Aren't our young babes just the smollest, BAMF Minerva McGonagall, Baby Ginny, Baby Harry meets Baby Ron, Everyone is young and smol, F/F, Fred and George are five and wreaking havoc, I love him, M/M, Minerva raises Harry, Poppy also raises Harry, Powerful Harry, Severus is grumpy but nobody can resist baby Harry, Sirius Black gets the respect he deserves, So yeah, Toddler Harry, Toddler Ron, abusive dursley mention, accidental magic that isn't quite so accidental, and baby ron, and bill is just a wee first year, and i suppose too many ideas is better than too few, and is married to Minnie because awwwz!, and they become friends just as quickly, anyway please enjoy the story, arabella is babysitting dudley though, because they were MEANT to be best friends, but like, but they'll all get done, except the dursleys, except the dursleys but they're subhuman garbage, god i hate the dursleys, i am salty as FUCK about them, in the best way, into a mushy pile of goo, little harry is so cute it literally turns my heart, most precious things, oh how fast time passes, so he might learn some manners and be a decent human, so precious, squee!, thanks for coming to my ted talk, that i've written ten thousand words today, they get shoved in a cupboard, they just were, they would find each other in any and all universes, they're miserable, this is so much fun and fluffy to write, those two are bro soulmates, unlike his parents, what a sweetheart, yay everyone is happy!, yes they are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-06-04 21:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15155696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Des98/pseuds/Des98
Summary: second in our new oneshot series!  such fluff!





	Motherhood is a dish best served to go, because you've really no time to sit down (but they wouldn't have it any other way)

Several months had gone by since Minerva and Poppy rescued Harry from the Dursleys, and he was doing much better.  He was cherubically chubby, as an almost-two year old should be, and during the weekdays he ran around, cheerfully performing accidental magic that seemed just a _little_ too focussed to be truly accidental, capturing the hearts of students and teachers alike, and creating the best kind of havoc.  Peeves, coincidentally, had found out that the best way to get away with more madness was to be nice to Harry, as it was very hard to punish him when Harry would look up with his big green eyes and say, “but Peeves is a _nice_ not-so-ghost,” convinced that his new friend couldn’t make so much trouble when he was so friendly.  Peeves soon found himself _actually_ attached to Harry, and when Filch was yelling at him for running in the halls, making the toddler’s lip warble and his eyes spill over, he soon found himself the victim of _much_ crueler pranks than usual.

The weekends were spent on Privet Drive, and Saturday nights were ‘dinner at the Dursley’ nights, but Harry found they weren’t so bad- The Dursleys spent them locked in the cupboard and subject to silencing charms while poor Arabella Figg babysat Dudley, and they usually just brought takeaway from any of their favourite restaurants outside town, since Petunia could _not_ cook.  Of course, she had to cook anyway as part of the agreement, which gave Harry’s mums a vindictive glee.  

Harry didn’t even _know_ that his old tormentors were there at all- one of the women always went ahead to subdue the Dursleys and take Dudley to Arabella while the other got the food with Harry.  They told Harry that they went to dinner at the ‘empty’ house because the ‘the house misses him,’ and they were hoping they could get away with that excuse until he was at least four and old enough to understand the basic concept of wards.  Since the Dursleys were technically _on_ the property and they were eating in the home with the wards, it was enough to keep Albus quiet, although he once tried to suggest that they were being a bit cruel to Vernon and Petunia.  He didn’t talk for a while after that, because Minerva punched him in the mouth and Poppy refused to treat him.

Meanwhile, Minerva had finally secured a trial (with Vitaserum) for Sirius Black, and she was glad, because Harry still cried “Pa’foot!” every time he saw a black dog.  Once, even a black chihuahua was greeted with “Pa’foot! Why you small?” and nobody (not even Severus, surprisingly) could handle the look of soul-crushing disappointment on Harry’s face when they had to tell him that it wasn’t Padfoot.  There were _far_ too many black dogs in Britain, they’d decided.

It had been quite a feat to wrestle Moony out of his depression and guilt and convince him to come see Harry, and finally it was, surprisingly again, Severus who managed to convince him.

“Stop ignoring our owls, wolf!” he growled as he pushed into the man’s flat in Diagon Alley- all it took to unlock it was an _alohomora-_ honestly, he wasn’t even _trying,_ and the ex-death eater was pissed. If _he_ had to try, to wake up everyday and fight the crushing weight of guilt and sadness and the urge to drown himself in alcohol and self-pity, then so did Remus Lupin.

“What are you doing here?” Remus asked listlessly, barely glancing at him.

“Harry is asking for you _literally every day,”_ Severus said, “and frankly, it’s getting a little annoying.”

“You don’t mean that,” Remus replied, still tonelessly.  “The letters from everyone else say that you’re quite fond of him.”

“So you _do_ read the letters!” Severus latched onto that and chose to ignore the other part, the part about him having… _feelings._ “And you just choose to ignore them?!  Come on, be a fucking Gryffindor!” He was _this_ close to taking a swing at the man.

“Harry doesn’t need me in his life,” Remus sighed, showing an emotion other than ‘numb’ for the first time so far.  “I couldn’t protect his parents, the love of my life is in prison for a crime that he didn’t commit, but I actually thought that he _did._ It was _Professor McGonagall_ who had faith in him, not me- I’m clearly just a burden on everyone in my life.  Harry doesn’t deserve that.”

“Oh, for the love of Merlin, _shut the fuck up!”_ Severus growled, violently slapping the wall so he wouldn’t slap Remus.  “It was a fucking war, we _all_ made bad decisions- I hate to say it, but yours weren’t the worst- we _all_ knew the mutt was crazy, so frankly, it wasn’t that far out of the realm of possibility for him to snap.”  Remus disagreed, but he kept his mouth shut. “Also, you _both_ have blind faith in Albus Dumbledore, and _he_ didn’t do anything about Black or believe otherwise, so why would you?  Would it be any different if the situations were reversed- No!” he answered his own question, “because _Gryffindors don’t think!”_ He realised that he was going off track, and as much as the idiocy of Gryffindors _was_ his favourite topic, he was trying to convince Lupin to come back, not make him more depressed by dropping hard truths.

“But James and Lily-”

“Yes, of course- ‘James and Lily didn’t trust me with the fact that they’d changed secret keepers.  Again- _war,_ and also, _it’s a fucking secret for a reason-_ the more people that _know,_ the more _risk_ there is!” Severus hadn’t used this much vulgar language in a _long_ time, and he had to admit that it felt pretty good.  “Now for the love of Merlin’s hairy crotch or Circe’s swinging tits or whatever distasteful colloquialisms you gaudy red and gold nuisances use, _go see the child who is begging for you or I will_ **_knock you out, drag you to Hogwarts, and tell him you’re taking a nap!”_ **

Needless to say, that got him moving, and Severus rolled his eyes as he tried to adjust his hair and straighten his robes.  “Don’t bother,” he ordered. “You’ve always looked like a ragamuffin and you always will. Besides, Harry’s hair is probably worse than yours, and _that’s_ saying something.”

“Sevvy!” Harry greeted as he saw the young professor coming up the hill.  “Look- I found a baby big spidey,” he chirped, Hedwig on his shoulder (as usual) while Snape looked warily at what was _actually_ a baby acromantula.

“Put that down, please,” he ordered, and Harry did so with a cheerful “bye-bye!” as the potions master went to yell at Hagrid not to let toddlers play with man-eating spiders.  “Oh, and I wode a spiky dead horsey!” he called eagerly after ‘Sevvy,’ who groaned- the fact that he could even _see_ the thestrals was enough, but Hagrid let him _ride_ one?!

Then Harry caught sight of Remus, and his entire face lit up as the werewolf felt his first prickle of happiness in months.  “UNCLE MOONY!” he cried, his voice full of exuberant joy as he ran towards the potions master full-stop (or, as full-stop as a little one can), and Hedwig fluttered away, not wanting to be squished when Harry basically met Remus in a toddler-tackle.  Lupin picked him up, fully smiling now.

“Hey cub- did you miss me?” he laughed, a _real_ laugh, as he felt the veil of depression lift enough for him to believe that there could be hope on the other side.

“Yeah!” Harry enthused.  “Where’d you go?” His little eyes were so innocent that Remus had to tell him _something._

“I wasn’t feeling so good for a while, but I’m here now.”

“You sick?  Mama flower is scawed _I’ll_ get sick.  But I don’t cawe ‘bout dat, cuz I’d get sick for you.”  Remus was impressed by his speaking capabilities- spending so much time in a school for older children must _help,_ surely, but it still showed that Harry was a very smart boy.  He was also obviously touched by his kindness.

“Don’t worry, cub- I’m not sick now,” he promised, and he found that he actually sort of meant it- this grief wouldn’t go away overnight, but he already felt so much better than he had a few minutes ago.

“Good,” Harry said.  “Cuz I missed you.”

___

“And _dis_ is my fave’rit picture,” Harry said, motioning to a painting of the four founders picnicking and laughing in a meadow, which concluded a three-hour tour of Harry’s favourite spots- his bedroom in Gryffindor tower, his favourite check-up table in the hospital wing, the Great Hall, the ‘funny gargle’ by Dumbledore’s office, the potions classroom _(James must be rolling in his grave that he likes hanging out with_ **_Snape,_ ** _of all people,_ Remus chuckled to himself.  Of course, James would _also_ be proud that he was as good at potions as his mum… tough call for a dead guy), and a number of other things, like his favourite staircase and his favourite suit of armour.

 _“Hey,_ little H!” Bill Weasley came by, his long hair in a low ponytail and offering Harry a high-five.  Unlike a lot of other students, who tended to gawk at Harry (nobody was allowed to tell him he was famous yet, as Poppy and Minnie thought it would be a little overwhelming for him right now, and there was a year of detentions promised to anyone who did), Bill just liked spending time with him.  He missed his own family a lot, and having a little kid around was comforting- especially one the same age as Ron, whom he was especially fond of.

“Not little- grew a whole sentiment this week,” he declared, puffing out his chest.

“Do you mean _centimetre,_ big guy?” Bill asked, to which Harry nodded sagely.  Bill picked him up, laughing.

“Oh, hey,” he noticed Moony.  “You’re Remus Lupin, right? I think my parents sort-of knew you during the war.”

“Yes, we’ve met,” Remus said, and Bill shook his hand.

“Wanna go brew,” Harry announced, gently tugging Bill’s ponytail in the direction of the dungeons from where he was ensconced in his arms.

“I think Severus might still be scolding Hagrid about how he shouldn’t let you play with acromantulas,” Lupin chuckled, and Harry shook his head.

“Big baby spider is nice,” he said.  “Besides- he gotsta be okay with it, cuz when Haggy gets a dwagon he gonna let me ride it.”

 _Oh Merlin,_ Bill thought.   _Another Charlie._

“And when does Hagrid plan on getting a dragon?” Remus raised an eyebrow at Harry, who shrugged.

“Dunno,” he answered truthfully.  “But he gonna get one one day.”

“Hagrid’s going to get a _what now?!”_ Severus had just come in from scolding the half-giant.

“Big dragon!”  Harry stretched his little arms as wide as they would go.  “A hungwy horntail!”

Severus turned back around when Remus reached out and put a hand on his arm, which earned him a glare that he ignored.  “It’s a hypothetical situation,” he told the man, and Harry smiled widely, showing off what teeth he had.

“We get a _hippo_ too?!”

“No,” Severus groaned.  “No hippo.”

“Oh,” Harry crossed his arms.  “Want hippo. Go brew?” he perked up, and Severus sighed.

“I _suppose,”_ he capitulated, and Harry clapped his little hands.

“Yay- Peppa?” he begged, and Severus snorted- Poppy already had more pepper-up than she knew what to do with, thanks to it being Harry’s favourite potion that they’d tried so far.

“That’s a second-year potion,” Bill whistled.

“Thank you, Weasley, for your insight,” Snape said sardonically.

“We make stuff shwink too,” Harry added, and Bill looked at him again.

“Third-year stuff- that’s impressive.”

“Well,” Severus droned, “I _do_ help him, but he happens to be a prodigy- you, on the other hand, would do well not to burn my classroom cauldrons every other week.”

“Diggy Cawdron!” Harry cheered.  “Ice Cweam wif Sevvy!”

“You took him to the Leaky for _ice cream?”_ Remus’ day was getting better and better.

“A potions master needs to be able to recognise different flavours and ingredients,” Severus bypassed the question weakly.  “Besides, I understand that positive reinforcement is good for children and helps them accomplish more- like a Pavlov’s dogs sort of situation.”

“You could try that with _us,”_ Bill muttered under his breath, which luckily for him was drowned out by Harry’s eager “woof! Woof!”

“Don’t give me that load of dragon dung- you’re fond of him,” Remus teased.

“Sevvy wuvs me- he said so!” Harry butt in, and Moony looked like Christmas had come early (but not a Christmas with the full moon- like a good, middle-of-the-lunar-cycle, everyone-is-together Christmas).

“He _asked-_ what was I supposed to say- no?” Severus whispered to him furiously.  “I’m an arse, not a monster!”

“Monsta- _rawr!”_ Harry growled, punctuated by giggles.

“That’s a much more accurate monster rawr then yesterday,” Severus groaned.   _“Hagrid!”_

“Haggy is _fun!”_ the toddler said as they walked towards the dungeons, he himself bouncing along on Bill’s hip.  “But Haggy can’t cook- my teef hurt now.”

“Next time, just tell him ‘no thank you,’” Remus advised, having done it before.

“I twied- he wooked sad,” Harry sighed.  “And now my teef is sad.”

“An accurate review of his rock cakes,” Remus agreed, checking to make sure none of Harry’s teeth were cracked.

“Yay!” Harry forgot about his teeth as they reached the dungeon, calling for Bill to put him down as he tottered to the shelves (Severus would never admit this, but he’d noticed Harry’s fear of cupboards and moved the ingredients they used regularly to a cabinet behind his desk, low enough for him to reach).

“I got da boo’slang and da woofy!” he cried.

“Boomslang and wolfsbane- I let him help measure the ingredients for my independent research.  He’s got a surprisingly steady hand- better than _most of my students,”_ he translated as he looked pointedly at Bill again, who shrugged.

“I make potions like mum cooks- chop it up and throw it all in.  It works for _her.”_

“For the _last time,_ Weasley, _cooking and potions are different!”_ he pinched the bridge of his nose, and Remus got the impression that they’d had this conversation before.

“Really, though?  I mean, you cut things, you put them in a hot pot, and then you ingest them.”

“That is a _gross_ simplification,” he said, as Harry reached up on tiptoes for a phial on the top shelf, couldn’t quite get it, and then very _knowingly and purposely_ summoned it to him with his magic.

“Did _you_ see that?” Remus looked at Severus, who looked back at Remus, who looked back at Severus.

“Harry?” Moony called slowly.  “How’d you do that?”

“Magic,” he smiled at them.  “I tell it to do somet’in and it does it.  Vern said it was bad,” his little face darkened for a moment, “but mamas say it’s good.”

“Yes Harry, it’s _very_ good,” Remus assured him, still a bit shocked- control of accidental magic was very unusual, _especially_ at this age.  Many kids hadn’t even _started_ having accidental magic yet.

“Brew?” Harry seemed oblivious to their stupefaction.

“Alright then,” Severus agreed, grabbing one of the classroom cauldrons- the one with _“Harry”_ painted on it in bright green fingerpaint by a proud little hand, the owner concentrating intently on copying exactly the lettering that the young professor had put on the board for him.  “Let’s brew.”

___

“Alright,” Minerva told Harry on the day of the trial that Sunday.  “Are you ready to go meet the Weasleys?” They hadn’t told him where they were going, only that they needed to do “boring grown-up stuff,” and Harry had lost interest quickly enough.

“Wheezies!  Wheezies in da floo,” the toddler exclaimed as ‘Mama Mins’ held his hand and let him throw the powder in.

“The Burrow,” she said clearly, and Harry clutched her leg as they spun through the warped flame-tube.

“Dizzy,” he said when they stepped out, plopping down on the worn, comfortable rug.

The Burrow was loud and chaotic, but that was okay, because so was Hogwarts- Harry _liked_ loud and chaotic, because loud and chaotic was _fun,_ unlike the Dursleys, which had been quiet except for Dudley’s constant tantrums and Vernon and Petunia’s yelling.

“Oh, hello dear,” Molly said as she pulled five-year-olds Fred and George away from the cookie jar by their collars, a number of firecrackers spilling out of their pockets as she did so.  “Lovely to see you both.”

“I’m Hawwy,” Harry stuck his hand out like he always did, and his enchantingly formal introduction melting Molly’s heart like it did with everyone.

“Oh, what a little gentleman,” she cooed, taking his hand before she pulled him into a hug.  “I’m Molly, and this is Fred, and George- oh, where have they gone now? Nevermind, the house is still standing, so I’ll take care of it in a bit.  And Charlie is out back doing… _something-_ again, as long as whatever he finds stays _outside,_ it’s quite alright.  Percy is upstairs reading, I think, and Ronald is over there colouring,” she said, pointing to a redheaded boy Harry’s age having a grand time with a muggle colouring books and crayons his father had brought him back from work (after disenchanting it, of course).

“And dis baby?” he asked, pointing at infant Ginny, who, already used to tuning out the noise, was snoring happily in a bassinet by the window.

“Oh, that’s Ginevra,” Molly said.  “She’s having her nap.”

“I like naps too,” Harry informed her, and Molly laughed.

“Can we trade?” she asked Minerva, who smiled but shook her head.

“I like mine,” she sighed fondly, petting Harry’s messy curls, which no comb could tame.  “Love of my life, and Poppy’s too.”

“Love you too Mama Mins- see you soon!  Have fun wif da boring grown-up stuff!”

“His speech capabilities are very advanced,” Molly remarked as she walked Minnie back to the floo.

“Well, he _does_ spend a lot of time around older children and adults, which is excellent for his mental development, but it would be good for him to play with kids his own age as well- not to mention he’d learn far fewer curse words.”

“Oh, around Fred and George?- what a cute thought,” Molly chuckled ruefully as the professor went back to Hogwarts to collect her wife and head to the Wizengamot.  As if to prove it, there was an explosion and a _“fuck!”_ from the twins- to this day she didn’t know how they learned it (okay, maybe she did- there was a burnt pie and nearly-boiled Errol situation a few weeks ago, but “they must have picked it up in the village” remained the official party line).  She sighed and headed to the living room, where a scorch mark on her wall and an abundance of brightly-coloured powder indicated that they had indeed, been up to something. It was very nice of the Patils to invite them over for Holi, of course, but Molly felt that with her children, any colourful holidays had the potential to go _very_ wrong.  Case in point.

“My cowours!” Ron cried in dismay, holding up his ruined drawing and burnt crayons.

“I gots it,” Harry said confidently, putting his hand on the wall and scrunching his face as the burn mark and the bright powders disappeared.  “Cwayons pwease,” he turned to Ron, who handed them over gleefully as Harry fixed those too.

“Whoa,” the twins, for perhaps the first time in their lives, stood stock-still.  “You have _got_ to teach us how you did that.”

“Magic,” Harry gave the simple explanation he always did when someone expressed astonishment over his control- it rather confused him, really.  Weren’t these people _wizards?_

“Wicked,” they grinned in unison, ready to unwittingly drag him into a lot of pranks and then use him to charm their way out of trouble, but Mrs. Weasley intervened.

“Why don’t you two go play outside now,” she ordered, “while Harry and Ronald get to know each other.”

“I’m Hawwy,” Harry stuck his hand out, but Ron didn’t really seem to know what to do with it.

“I’m Won,” he said.  “I’m dis many.” He held up two fingers.

“I’m only dis many,” Harry sighed, sticking up two fingers, but with the top part of the second folded down, since he still had almost three months to go until his birthday.

“Dat’s _almost_ the same many’s,” Ron comforted his new friend, who giggled and offered him a sticky graham cracker pulled out of his trouser pocket.  Molly smiled- so sweet, these two. Friends for life, she could already tell.

“Nummy,” Ron broke off half the graham cracker, shoved it in his mouth, and handed the rest back to Harry.  The two ate their snack contentedly, Ron with his mouth open spewing crumbs and Harry with his mouth closed and his hands folded on his lap, because he’d watched Minnie and Poppy eat enough to know that that’s just how it was done.  But he didn’t correct Ron- his way worked too, he just didn’t get quite as much when part of the snack was dribbling down his chin. Well, no matter- he’d learned the last couple of months that there would always be enough for him to eat and he didn’t have to guard every crumb like a dragon at its hoard.   _Ooh,_ dragons…

“Wanna pway dragons?” he asked his new best friend.

“Yeah!” Ron agreed cheerfully- Charlie was always too busy looking for _actual_ dragons to play pretend dragons with him…

“You wanna be da hungwy horntail or the snortspout?” he graciously offered Ron a choice, and the redhead cocked his head.

“Hungwy Horntail,” he declared.  “‘Cuz I’m hungwy a lot. You be snortspout because you smaller.”

“One day I’ll be bigger,” Harry vowed, looking up at Ron’s face- _boy,_ he had a lot of ground to cover if he wanted to get taller than _that_ (Ron had maybe two inches on him, but to someone who’s less than three feet off the ground, two inches is a relatively _tremendous_ gap- practically unbridgeable- he’d have to try to make room for more vegetables at dinner...).  

“Rawr,” Ron said, getting into character.  “My cwayons.”

“Okay,” Harry said graciously, and Ron became ‘Ron’ again instead of Smaug from that muggle series his dad was reading.

“No siwwy,” he explained.  “Dwagons guawd tweasure, and other dwagons twy to take it.”

“Oh,” Harry nodded.  “May I pwease have your tweasure, Mr. Dwagon?”

 _“No,”_ Ron shook his head again.  “You gotta twy to _steal_ it!”  Where did these strange _manners_ come from?

“Okay,” Harry seemed to actually get it this time, and he reached for the crayons, only to be blocked by Ron, making dragon noises.  He sat back like he’d seen the dragons in his picture books do (on his haunches) as he formulated a strategy, and suddenly the crayons went flying out of Ron’s hands and into his.

“Hey- dat’s cheating,” Ron declared, but he was laughing.  “You’re so siwwy!”

“Dis is siwwy too,” Harry declared, puffing his cheeks out and making a funny face.

 _“Dis_ is siwwier,” Ron parried, pulling at his ears and crossing his eyes the way the twins had taught him.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha!” Harry belly-laughed, plopping down on his bum.  “Dat _is_ siwwier!  Ooh!” he suddenly shot up, an idea forming.  “Wisten to _dis!”_ He stuck his tongue out and made a _pbbft!_ noise, and Ron started laughing harder.

“Just don’t tell Mama Mins, cuz Flitty-wick got in twouble for it at dinner last night,” he said, and Ron nodded solemnly.

“It’s ouw special secwet,” he declared, trying very hard to make the ‘r’ sound before eventually giving up.

“Like this,” Harry instructed, his own R’s being slightly more developed.  “REE-REE-REE-REE!” he called, clapping his hands together as he made a noise of indiscriminate origins.

“REE-REE-REE-REE!” Ron cried, exuberant at being able to do it, and Molly normally would have sent them outside if they wanted to make that much noise, but they were just so _cute._

___

Shortly after, they both had lunch and took a nap in Ron’s crib together, and time seemed to fly by, and before Harry knew it, his mamas were coming to pick him up.  They were both tired but happy, and Molly, who had read the paper, knew why. She smiled- Harry was about to be a _very_ excited little boy.

“Hello little one- are you ready to go home?  We have a surprise for you,” Poppy said as she leaned down to kiss him on the head, and Harry looked torn- surprises were good, but he didn’t want to leave his new best friend yet.

“We see Won soon?” he asked, still holding the other toddler’s hand.

“Yes darling,” Minnie promised, and that seemed to be enough for him- he trusted his mamas.

“Bye-bye!” he chirruped, and leaned in and kissed Ron on the cheek the way adults always did to him.  “Wuv you Won!”

“Wuv you Hawwy!” Ron waved as they headed back through the floo.  “See you soon!”

 _So cute,_ Minerva mouthed to her wife, who nodded fervently.  Molly, too, was melting from the adorableness overload.  She was eagerly planning to tell Arthur all about it that night once they’d gone to bed- it almost made her want to have more (key-word being _almost-_ seeing a kid being cute and then wanting some has to be treated like getting drunk and wanting a tattoo- sober up first and reconsider).

___

On the other side of the floo, in Harry’s room, a big black dog was waiting for him.  Harry looked at the dog, hardly daring to hope, and then he looked at the joyful faces of his mamas.  Could this be…?

“Pa’foot?” he asked, voice low and cautious.  

“Yes baby- _that’s_ Padfoot,” Poppy confirmed, and Harry ran up to the dog (who was looking a little worse for wear but overall deliriously happy) and threw his arms around him, burying his face in his fur.

“Pa’foot!” he peppered wet, sticky kisses all over his ears, his nose, his face, and then made a raspberry noise as he tried to spit out the fur that had made its way into his mouth.  “ Be people!” he ordered his godfather. “Wanna talk!”

Sirius transformed and eagerly swept Harry up in a proper hug- he’d lost a fair amount of weight, and his eyes were just a little haunted, but right now he was sure he’d never been happier.

“Prongslet!” he spun Harry around as his godson laughed.

“Stop Pa’foot, _stop!”_ he begged as he received lots of loving tickles, and his laughter rang throughout their quarters and could even be heard in the Gryffindor common room.

“C’mon- let’s play dragons!” he pulled Sirius by the hand over to his toy chest and pulled out some plushies from one of his well organised bins, and grey eyes sparkled with mirth as they saw the Lily in him.

“Well, when you put it like _that…”_ he laughed, and he no longer sounded like a man who’d just been pulled out of the hellhole that was Azkaban- Harry’s presence was truly therapeutic.  Remus came in as they were playing, and Sirius’ eyes were drawn to him immediately, before anyone else even realised he was there.

“Moony- _fuck,_ I’m sorry,” he told his partner, and Harry looked at him sternly.

“That is _bad_ word,” he chided, and Sirius shook his head and apologised.

“It’s alright, luv,” Remus soothed as he came over and took a third plushie.  “We all did a lot of things we regret during the war, but I’m ready to pick up where we left off if you are.”

“Am I _ever!”_ Sirius let out a sigh of relief that was really somewhere between a sob and a joyful cry.  Harry watched them intently, then picked up two dragons and smooshed their snouts together, clearly indicating he thought the two should kiss.  They exchanged a quick peck on the lips before Sirius looked over at his godson and smiled.

“You are your _mother’s_ child,” he laughed.

“Which one?” Harry asked seriously.  “I have twee!” A pudgy little fist held up three fingers.

___

Once Harry had played himself to sleep and Sirius had carried him to bed, Minerva pulled him aside into her office and shut the door.

“I’m very happy that you’re free, young man, and I’m glad Harry has his godfather, but by Circe’s tit, if you try to take him from us-”

She didn’t even to get worked into her speech, as Sirius laughed and held up a hand.  “Relax Minnie- I’m ecstatic to be in Harry’s life, but I’m more than happy to leave the parenting to you.  Of course, if there was no one else I trusted to do it, I’d do my damndest, but let’s face it- you know what you’re doing more than I do.  I wanna see Harry as often as humanly possible, but if I was responsible for his welfare, _he’d_ probably end up raising _me._ He’s one of the two most important people in my life, and I want him to have the best life and the best care out there.  But I’m twenty-one, I’ve been through a lot, and I need to be Gryffindor enough to admit I’m not the best one for the job.   _You_ are.  Besides,” he waggled his eyebrows at her, “my boyfriend and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear it,” the tabby animagus rolled her eyes at him.  “Sorry I laid into you so hard.”

“It’s alright- that’s the kind of protective instincts I _want_ in the parents of my godson.”

“Sirius, you know I would die for him.”  As soon as she said it, Sirius winced a little and she realised that that probably wasn’t the best example, but her old student gave a shaky chuckle and waved off her apologies.

“We all would, Minnie McG, but enough parents have died for him already,” he told her.  “Feel free to kill for him, though.”

“Oh, I very nearly did,” she replied, and when Sirius looked at her quizzically she realised that he didn’t know about the Dursleys- Hagrid had only told him he had to take the baby to Dumbledore’s _that night,_ so he wouldn’t have known he was left there nor what happened.  Honestly, if he _had_ known what Albus was planning, he wouldn’t have gone after Peter that night- he would have strapped Harry to him and run as far away as possible.  This was going to be a _long_ night.

“Get comfortable,” she ordered.  “I better grab some firewhiskey.”


End file.
